James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, was a Scottish biographer and diarist, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson, which the modern Johnsonian critic Harold Bloom has claimed is the greatest biography written in the English language...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth29 October 1740
men miserable every-man
It is not every man who can be exquisitely miserable, any more than exquisitely happy.
drinking play criticism
We had some port, and drank damnation to the play and eternal remorse to the author.
cake littles pages
A page of my journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.
character men expression
In comparing these two writers, he [Samuel Johnson] used this expression: "that there was as great a difference between them as between a man who knew how a watch was made, and a man who could tell the hour by looking on the dial-plate." This was a short and a figurative statement of his distinction between drawing characters of nature and characters only of manners, but I cannot help being of opinion, that the neat watches of Fielding are as well constructed as the large clocks of Richardson, and that his dial plates are brighter.
three may different
I am now to offer some thoughts upon that sameness or familiarity which we frequently find between passages in different authors without quotation. This may be one of three things either what is called Plagiarism, or Imitation, or Coincidence.
men saws bears
I have seen many a bear led by a man: but I never before saw a man led by a bear.
heart kids men
People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? A man cannot know himself better than by attending to the feelings of his heart and to his external actions, from which he may with tolerable certainty judge "what manner of person he is." I have therefore determined to keep a daily journal.
sister brother sibling
I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends.
hero drinking wine
No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys; port for men: but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. In the first place brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can do for him.
character men practice
I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything....
writing yield joy
I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation on its virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spirituous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence is a more safe inspirer of social joy.
admitted among good smaller
A good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.
sarcastic dog done
A woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinter legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to see it done at all.